Ramos double helps Real into quarter-finals

Napoli 1 Real Madrid 3 (Real win on 6-2 agg)

08 March 2017 02:30 AM

Sergio Ramos. Pic: Reuters

Sergio Ramos headed an equaliser and created an own goal to set Real Madrid on the way to a 3-1 win at Napoli last night which took the title-holders into the Champions League quarter-finals after they had taken a first-half battering.

The Serie A side, trailing 3-1 from the first leg of the round of 16 tie, looked more than capable of overturning the deficit as they dominated the first half and took the lead through Dries Mertens in the 24th minute.

But Napoli's hopes of a first quarter-final appearance effectively ended when defender Ramos, who has made a habit of rescuing his team, headed in from a corner in the 51st minute.

He repeated the trick six minutes later, although the ball took a deflection off Mertens and was given by UEFA as an own goal to the Belgian. Alvaro Morata added another goal for Real in stoppage time to complete a 6-2 aggregate win which sent the Spanish side through to their seventh successive Champions League quarter-final.